A Bird in the Hand
by danceluvr12613
Summary: Robin is captured by Joker on a YJ mission. She is tortured and is on her last leg. Can she be saved or will she die in the hands of the nut case? Follow, review, and fav!
1. Chapter 1

A/N It has come to my attention that people do not appreciate Robin being a girl. First of all, if you have a problem with her being a girl, don't read it. Second of all, don't come to my reviews complaining about how you don't like it. It pisses me off and I really don't appreciate it. I appreciate those who like my story. So in conclusion, if you don't like it, don't read and or review it.

Thanks

-danceluvr12613

Disclaimer- I don't own Young Justice sadly :(

Skylar had barely recovered from being kidnapped by Slade Wilson. The fact that she had been his prisoner for over a month and he was willing to sell her to the highest bidder shook the young teen up pretty bad.

Dick assured Bruce that over time his teen daughter would be the same as she always was. She just needed time to get her bearings. He was glad the girl had not brought up her savior who she knew and wouldnt tell or Bruce was smart enough to leave it alone.

It had been a month since her rescue that Skylar went out as Robin again. One of the first nights she went out, she'd been aware she was being watched. At first she thought perhaps it was Nightwing or her father or any of the Justice League members. Her gut was sure it was something different that night.

She had been caught off guard and kidnapped once; she was determined to not have that happen again. She was on high alert. She was determined to prove her father she could handle herself as Robin.

Joker sat in his hideout pondering what he could do next to wreak havoc in Gotham. When the oppurtunity presented itself, he was going kidnap Robin. Suddenly his thug approached him and spoke,"The Bat is leaving town tomorrow night."

Joker raised an eyebrow. He stood up and put a happy but devious smile on his face. "This is great news! Since Nightwing moved to Blüdhaven, Robin will be unsupervised!" Joker exclaimed. "Not exactly sir, the girl will be with the smaller versions of the justice league kids on a league mission regarding you. He looked out the window and saw a costumed teen girl he was after swinging from rooftop to rooftop. "We make our move tomorrow at when they come to the warehouse" Joker told the thug.

Bruce sat on his private jet and dialed his daughter's cell phone number. It rang three times and Bruce was about to tell the pilot to turn around and go back to Gotham when she answered. "Skylar Mackenzie Wayne," she said.

"Hey Skylar, its your dad," Bruce told her.

"Oh hey dad, let me guess, your checking on me and Tim?" She asked.

Bruce noted the annoyed tone of Skylar's voice. Despite everything that had happened, Skylar was still in a hurry to prove she could handle herself. What Skylar didn't know was that Bruce already trusted her. He had complete faith in her that she could keep Gotham City safe, if he didnt he would have never left her alone. She was trained by both Bruce and Dick. She was ready.

"No, has Dick called you at all?" Bruce asked. He thought that would be a good excuse to check on his adopted son and his biological daughter. Skylar didn't fall for it.

"Uh-huh,no, he hasn't, I will call you if he does," Skylar told him," anything else?"

"Skylar, when u go on the mission tomorrow , promise me youll be careful," he told her.

"OK, I will, I gotta go, Tim's calling my name. Bye dad, love you," she told him.

"Bye Skylar, love you," he told her before he hung up.

Bruce had been super overprotective over Skylar and ever since Dick had brought home Tim he had been more protective over the teen and the eight year old. Skylar understood why, but sometimes it got on her nerves


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later

"What happened" Batman asked kKid Flash.

"I-I don't know," Wally told the angry Bat.

"You were with her. You were supposed to watch each others backs...what happened?" Batman asked in a more demanding voice.

"We were sent in first to check out the place, she was in front of me. We were supposed to be watching each others backs but she ran ahead of me and I lost sight of her and we got seperated so I went looking for her... I-I couldn't find her and then I heard her cry in pain and that's when I knew where she was. When I finally found her, she was injured, and I didn't know what her condition was.." Wally stopped not wanting to go on.

"Wally, I need you to finish," Batman explained in a calmer voice.

"I didn't know what to do," Wally blurted out," I turned around to go find help and then I was hit I'm the head, the last thing I saw was Joker." Wally suddenly lost his breath.

Everyone in the room fell quiet.

"Joker?" Batman asked worriedly.

"YES JOKER, THAT BIG JERK FACE PROBABLY TOOK HER!" Wally yelled at Batman," he took her." Wally said quieter.

"Wait, so your telling us that Joker has Robin?" Artemis questioned.

"No I'm telling you Cinderella has Robin," the speedster sarcastically snapped at Artemis. "Yes, I'm telling you that nut case has Robin, what else would I be telling you!?" Wally yelled. "I'm sorry Tartu, I just need a minuted." Wally said as he'll buried his face in his hands and sighed.

Joker's hideout.

"Now you can cooperate or we can make you, kid" one if Joker's thugs stated.

"Kiss my a-" before Robin could finish her sentence she was slapped hard across the face.

"Now now...do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" He asked

her with his laugh.

"Jokes on you, my mother is dead. Your nuts you creep!" She yelled. She received another slap to the face except with a sharp object.

She felt a warm liquid trickle down her cheek.

"Now are you going to be a giid little bird?" Joker questioned," or do I have to mklake you?" He asked fiddling with the small knife with a bit of Robin's blood on it from her cheek.

"Go to hell, and maybe you can be with some of your own kind," Robin yelled with a scowl.

Joker turned around and he was not smiling.

He pulled out another knife and held it to Robin's neck,"Care to repeat that?" He asked.

"You think you are going to get away with this?" Robin questioned," Cuz if you do your stupider than I thought," Robin said with a grunt.

"I should have hit you harder," joker lwt out a long sugh and stood up. He started to walk towards a corner and ghen he leaned down and picked something up.

"Boys could you give us a minute?" Joker asked but the thugs just stood there," I SAID COULD YOU GIVE US A MINUTE?" joker yelled and the thugs immediately left.

Robin's eyes widened as he saw a metal rod that Joker had retrieved from the corner.

"Now is time to teach you a lesson, one that you won't forget," Joker said woth an evil laugh. "Oh and don't worry, this won't hurt much," he snickered.

Suddenly Joker struck Robin in her side., she cried out in pain.

"You will learn not to mess with me! Come to think of it , you will never forget this moment, might as well make the best of it!" Joker said with another laugh.

He struck at Robin multiple times


	3. Chapter 3

Kid Flash sat on the edge of one of tje various cave couches, his thoughts racing. No matter what he did he couldn't get his mind off his failed mission; he couldn't get hus mind off of didn't know where Hus missing teammqte was and the worst part of this situation was that Hus best friend was somewhere with a deranged psycho.

"Why did she run ahead of me? That's not like Skylar to do that. She should've stuck with me; else could've fought that freak off," Wally angrily thought; he was pulled out of his thoughts by Artemis.

"Are you alright?" Artemis asked concerned.

"No, I'm not alright," Wally admitted with a sigh.

Artemis looked at the speedster. She knew was truly worried about his friend.

She had only been a member of the team for only a few short months, but she knew KF and Robin were close buds. She knew they had their ups and down just like everyone else, but in the end they always came through for eachother.

"Shell be OK, you and I both know Robin's a strong fighter," Artemis tried t bring some sort of comfort to her teammate, even though she knew it was no use. Nothing in this world cone bring comfort to Wally other than the return of his best friend.

"That's what I'm worried about; Rob is probably going to say something stupid and get herself killed." Wally knew Skylar better than anyone on the team. He knew she was famous for talking back, especially to criminals.

Artemis played a comforting hand on Wally's shoulder. "What exactly happened in that building?" Artemis questioned,"you can tell me."

Wally looked up at her and gave another long sigh. He began o explain on his last mission

*flashback*

"OK, proceed, but be careful, we still don't know who is in the building," Aqualad said through his comm-link.

"Got it," Robin quickly said as she walked towards the warehouse, Kid Flash a few feet in front of her.

"Were in," Robin said into his comm-link. They entered the warehouse.

Sake slowly took in the scenery. It was pretty old, maybe about 30 or 40 years old. It reeked of mold and stannate air. The floor was cracked in various places and stained. Though, that was not the only thing that caught her eye. There was something laying in a heap a few feet away from her and it looked like a person.

Robin slowly approached the still body and flipped it over. It was an older man with a big red grin on his face.

"It's confirmed, our perpetrator is" Robin stopped midway through her sentence because she heard an ear splitting static coming from her comm-link. She took the devuce out of her ear and threw it across the room. Wally obviously hearing the noise too did the same as her

"What the heck was that?" Wally asked rubbing his sore ear.

Suddenly they heard a noise come from some sort of speaker on the wall. They both immediately began to look around the room and then finally spotted a black speaker hanging on the wall.

"Heel kids! Welcome to Joker's fun house!" Joker said through the speaker.

"We need to get out of here and call for backup," Robin whispered to Kid Flash.

Robin and KF then turned around and stated to head towards the door thy came in.

"Aaaawwww you kiddies don't want to stay and play?" Joker asked.

"Not really," KF said.

"Oh and if try to leave, the moment out walk through that door I will kill each of these hostages," Joker said with his famous laugh.

"You think it's a trap?" KF asked Robin.

"Even if it is we can't take any chances, we need to help the hostages if there are some," Robin replied.

"So we polroceed without backup?" KF asked.

"Yup," Robin told KF.

They both continued down the hallways. Moments later Wally had tripped over some rope that was hidden in the darkness. Robin continued without him. She rounded q corner and was out of sight.

"Rob, where are you?" He yelled. He ran around anotjer corner and still didn't find his friend.

Wally then started to panic; he started to pick up his pace, but stopped when he heard a cry of pain.

"Robin!" Yelled Robin. He riunded his third corner and found her lying on the ground with a small trail of blood leading frm her neck.

"Robin!" Wally shouted again. He started to mive towards his teammate when he was hit in the hit with a cold object. He fell to the ground in a heapm . His vision started to blur as darkness threatened to overtake him. Before he became uncincious he saw Joker smiling down at him.

*end of flashback*

"And the last thing I saw was that mad man," Wally said trting to fight back teats that were threatening to spill.

Artemisjust stood there in quick along with Connor and Megan who had joined them in the room. They had listened in to the re telling of Wally's failed mssion.

"I- I didn't know what to do and...and I was so scared. When I saw she she was just so...so. I don't kniw hoq to explain it. We shiyldnt have gone in Aline, we should have waited for backup. I should have been in front of her." Wally said, tears now falling down his cheeks.

"Wally, its not your fault," Artemus told him,"you didn't know Joker was gonna do that."

"No, it is my fault! I should have kept an eye in her; she's only thirteen and a half for crying out loud! She should be here worrying on the couch rather than being hurt by ! She deserves to have another chance at life. She dances, sings, loves, has people who care about her and who love her. She deserves to be here with her in my arms. I love her!" Wally shouted at Artemis. He hurried his face in his hands and cried silently

"We'll find her Wally. I promise," Artemis said as she hugged the apeedster .

Everything was black and all Robin could feel was pain. She tried to open her eyes but even that bit of movement caused her more discimfort .Her head was throbbing and her ribs felt like they were on fire, she so badly wanted grab her aching sides but was instantly remembered that her hands were handcuffed behind her back .

She struggled to sit up. As soon as she sat up, she collapsed back down on the ground. "Oh, the baby bird is up! Ready for another beating?" She heard Joker's voice.

"Your s- sick," Robin tried to yell at the madman. The pain from the earlier encounter had began to get to her.

"What was that kiddoa? I couldn't hear you," Joker said giving Robin a hard kick to the side.

She cried out in pain.

"Did that last comment strike a nerve? I meant to strike a rib" Joker said with a laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

"I want all available Justice league members to search for whereabouts of Joker," Batman told Superman as they walked into the JL counsel room.

"Wonder Woman and Green Arrow were just down at rhw warehouse searching for anything that might lead us to the whereabouts of Joker," Clark replied walking closely behind Batman.

"Did they find anything at all?" Batman asked.

"No, nothing that could help us with our mission, but they did find thus note" Superman said holding up a piece of paper.

"Let me see that," Batman said taking the paper out of Superman's hands. He unfolded it and read it out loud.

"Dear Batsy,

Stick around to see the show at 6P.M. sharp! It will be a real shocker!

-Joker."

Batman crinkled the note and threw it as hard as he could across the room. "I swear if that maniac does anything to my daughter, I will personally kill him!" He yelled. He threw his fist into the wall causing a good sized dent. He turned around and stood in front if a glass covered window.

"Bruce, you need to calm down," Clark said approaching the now enraged man.

"Don't tell me to calm down, you don't know how it feels to have your only daughter and partner left to be in the situation Skykar is in!" Batman yelled at Superman.

Clark stood in shock. Even though Bruce didn't want to admit it,never less, he could see his colleague was in distress about the whole situation and more than anything, Clark wanted to help relieve some of it, "We will find her, I can promise you that, Bruce ."

Batman didn't reply or object to Clark's wirds, he just stared out the window.

"Bruce, I..." he didn't get to finish when he was cut off by Batman.

"I just... I just need a minute," the Dark Knight simply stated without turning away from the window.

Superman silently nodded and slowly made his way towards the doors list deeply in his thoughts. When Bruce finally heard the double doors shut he slowly slid to the grund and let out a long sigh.

"Where are you, Skylar?" Bruce whispered slamming his hands in the cold hard floor.

Robin quickly tried to ridge the goon who threw himself at her. She failed. She fell to the ground and heard a snap. She felt a splitting pain travel from her wrist all the way up her arm. She goon had landed on her and snapped her right wrist.

The goon was still utterly shocked at the noise her wrist made when he snapped it. She took this opportunity to run away from the lunatics. While the first goon was still in a dazed state, she fipped herself over and kicked him in the face. She then ran as fast as her broken bidy could go.

"Hey! Get back here you little brat!" One if the goons yelled as he pulled himself off the ground.

"Where did she go?" One if the goons asked looking around.

"Great, now I have to take down these dummies before I get out of here," Robin quietly whispered to herself.

"I'm home! And I..." he didnt get to finish hus sentence before he saw both his goons lying n the ground.

"Where's the Bats little brat?" Joker groweled at the two. He looked down at where robin lqy before he left. He looked around the hideout "Who us responsible for this?" Joker yelled.

"Well boss, she was trying to get away and..." one if the goons who started so fess up was now on the ground with a bullet through his head. He began to bleed.

"What are you standing around for?" Joker asked the other goon. "Get out there and start looking for her, unless you want to end up like our friend," Joker told him pointing at the wide open back door.

Thean pulled out if his dazed state and looked at Joker. "Yes, right away sir," he told him scrambling to get out the backdoor.

Joker looked at where Robin lay before she decided to leave. He found a small trail of blood leading from where she was to the backdoor. He smiled. "Good little birdie," he said as he walked out the backdoor.

Robin was not far from the warehouse, she had to move faster before Joker's dummies found her.

"Come on muscle calves, don't fail me now. Just a little faster, please," she begged her battered body.

She stopped and leaned up against a large tree. Her wrist ached and the hand cuffs cutting off the circulation in her hand didn't help. She gasped for air.

She peeked around the tree and saw a goon.

"Come on little birdie, come out from whereever you are," he said in a sing song voice.

"Does he really think I'm that stupid?" Robin said to herself. She caught her breath and began to try and run again. She took a step forward and slipped on a patch if ice on the ground. She fell flat on her back and hit her head on the stump of the tree.

Breathing instantly becane harder than it already was, black spots blurred her vision. She had to start moving again, no matter how much it hurt.

She peeked around the tree to make sure no one was there. Nobody was. She turned around and began to run again, when she ran right smack into Joker. She fell on her butt and stared up at him in horror.

"Boo," he said looking down onto her.

She scrambled to get up and began to sprint as fast as her body would let her go until it reached its breaking point. Joker followed her in a fast walk.

"Where are you going little birdie? Did you really think you were going to get away? Were on the edge of Gotham City kiddo, in some secluded forest. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. No one will come looking for you out here!" Joker yelled to Robin. He knew she wouldn't get far with her injuries. It was a matter of time before her body would give out on her.

Robins sides ached. She wanted to stop but she knew that nut case wasn't far behind her.

"There has to be a way out of this forest," Robin pondered to herself.

She stopped when she came to an abandoned road. No people and no cars. The only thing she saw was a sign that read , now leaving Gotham. Maybe Robin did have a chance if being saved. She started to take a step but was stopped when she was hit on the head by something hard.

She fell to the ground and felt blood comimg from her head. Her vusuin was blurred again and darkness engulfed her. Before she blacked out she saw Joker smiling down at her.


	5. Chapter 5

Wally sat in the couch he had the previous day. He was still trying to get his mnd back together; however that seems impossible at the moment because all he kept thinking about was Robin

Wally inhaled slowly still trying to clear his thoughts he then turned his attention towards Megan and Connor who were standing in the kitchen. From this distance Wally could see that Megan had her head buried in Connor's shoulder silently crying.

Connor was trying his best to comfort her, but nothing seemed to fix the Martian's broken heart.

Suddenly Wally felt a soft hand on his shoulder and the speedster immediately jolted off of the couch and flipped around to meet Artemis's worried gaze.

"Hey its me just take a chill pill I brought you over a drink like you asked me to," Artemis stated handing him the glass. For a minute she just stood there staring taking in the red heads appearance. She was starting to become very concerned for her teammate. He just hadn't been the same ever since Robin went missing. He looked tired, his cheeks wear red, and he looked like he had been crying for hours.

"I'm... I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you," Wally stammered he then ran a shaky hand through his hair and took a couple of deep breaths.

"It's okay just drink some of this juice I brought you use it should help you feel a little better," Artemis said trying her best to stay strong for her teammate.

"What is it?" Wally questioned peering iside the glass.

"It's just lemonade," Artemis declared.

"Oh," Wally said feeling slightly stupid for asking what was in the cup. He guessed he was just curious since Artemis and him didn't exactly get along and that she might have put something else in the class besides juice. Artemis gave Wally a weak smile and then made her way towards Aqualad who had just entered the kitchen.

"How is everyone holding up?" Aqualad asked.

"Well Megan has been crying for almost an hour now and Wally is tearing himself apart although Connor seems to be OK," Artemis explained.

"How about you? Hiw are you holding up?" Aqualad asked.

"I'm fine why would I be freaking out I hardly even know Robin, well I know her but not as well as Wally does. I don't think anyone on this team knows Robin better than Wally does," Artemis lied. She did care about Robin and her whereabouts, but she couldn't let her team know that. She wasn't supposed to care about anyone but herself, well that's at least what her dad taught her.

"Yes maybe so, but that doesn't mean anyone else isn't concerned about her including you," Aqualad informed her.

"I know I just guess I'm worried about Wally..." Artemis then stopped halfway through her sentence before she said anything she would later regret," I mean I am worried about the team not just Wally Artemis said nervously rubbing her arm. Aqualad gave her a puzzled look he didn't understand. One minute Artemis was ready to kill the hyperactive speedster and now she was acting like they were good friends, but the Atlantean could also tell the archer had feelings for the red headed teen. Moving his attention from Artemis to his team he could tell they were all in distress about the disappearance of Robin. Even he was distraught about the whole situation and in some ways he blames himself for what happened to the young girl. But he knew beating himself up about it wasn't going to help find Robin.

"Alright kiddo it's time to wake up and get ready for the show," Joker said as he gave Robin a light tap on that side of his cheek. But the only response the Joker got was a quiet sleepy groan. "Fine have it your way," Joker slightly whispered as he pulled out a blow horn from the back of his pocket and then let it rip. Robin's eyes instantly flew open she tried to pull her hands up to cover her ears but the from the obnoxious noise but then she realized that her hands were handcuffed securely to a metal pole after a few seconds Joker finally dropped the blow hard to the ground. "Now that's better," Joker stated with a smile.

"God I hate you," Robin half mumbled to herself.

"What was that kiddo? I could snap that other wrist for you if you'd like," Joker question. But Robin didn't reply.

"Alright now that you're awake we can get ready for the show," Joker said with the laugh. "Don't worry it won't be too bad... or will it?" Joker then burst out into his famous laugh. Robin knew exactly what was going to happen but she knew it wasn't going to be good.

Batman stood in the oversized lab still at work running tests on a strange liquid he had found when he went back to the warehouse. He hadn't much luck.

He managed to find that the liquid was a strange kind of motor oil. This wasn't much help either, a majority if companies around the globe that sold oil similar to that type. All he had to do was figure out which company produced it.

He stopped and went into attack mode when someone entered the room. He turned around and saw Flash.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, its almost time," Flash told him.

"I know," Batman said in a nervous voice," I'll be right there."

Barry gave him a slight nod. He exited through the double doors.

Batman didnt want to go into that room. As soon as Barry was out I'd sought he slammed his fists into a table in the lab. He didnt want to see Robin being tortured and he helplessely standing by waiting for it to end.

Batman sighed; so many things were going through his mind at the moment. He was worried for Skylar's safety and the fact that Joker taking his plans a little to far and it might just lead to Robin's death.

Batman looked over at the clock in the room. It reqd 5:57. Which meant Bruce was about to see his little girl being tortured in 3 minutes.

The Dark Knight left the lab and made hus way towards the big JL council room.

Now, finally, he was standing outside the room. He took a deep breath and slowly walked into the room.

Bruce looked at the holographic computer set up in the middle if a large table

He looked at some if the other league members. Some of them were looking up at the blank screen waiting for Jokers broadcast came on while others stared at Bruce with worried looks on their faces. Diana came up behind Beuce and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. Bruce's gaze remained on the blank screen along with the others.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be OK, I promise," Diana stated, trying to comfort the man who was under a lot if stress. Bruce slowly nodded with no emotion on his face.

Finally, the clock struck six o'click. The screen came to life. Slowly, Jokers face appeared on the holographic screen.

"Is this thing on?" Joker asked himself, "Oh, what do you know, it is!" Joker said with a humorous giggle.

"Before we get started, I would like to introduce my new thug, David, which I might add refuses to wear clown makeup, anyhow, my last goon had a little accident," Joker started but was interrupted by Hus new goon.

"Um actually Sir, you shot him," David said.

"I thought it was my toy gun, oh well, he was beggining to go soft in me anyways," Joker said holding up a real gun then throwing it across the room," but enoghe about my dead thug, let's just get on with this!"

Joker looked at his thugs and snapped his fingers for them go fetch Robin.

David slowly bent down next to Robin and unlocked her handcuffs. As soon as he did so she began to struggle.

"Quit struggling kid!" David said as he roughly pulled Robin off of the ground.

Robin bit her lower lip. She tasted blood. She was trying to keep from crying out, severe pain reached through her entire body.

Batmans eyes wudened when robin came into view off the camera. He noticed her swollen and limp wrist. He noticed the blood on her suit. He already had had enough.

The league watched as the goons roughly dropped Robin on the ground then each of them took a wrist. They held her up.

Joker bent down and grabbed his crowbar, the same one he always used to beat all of his victims, and then he walked towards Robin.

The goons made Robin's arms look like they were wings on her body. Joker looked at her," Look Bats, now she really looks like a little bird," Joker said with a giggle.

He raised the crowbar and struck her hard in the abdomen.

She let out a cry of pain as the crowbar impacted with her stomach.

Joker laughed again as he struck her again.

Robin began hyperventilating and coughing. She struggled to take in enough oxygen.

"Aaawww is the poor little birdie having trouble catching her breath? Here, let me give you a hand," Joker said giving her a force full kick to her side.

Robin instantly grabbed her now throbbing side, but as soon as she made a sudden movement the pain became unbearable, however she still had enough energy to get out a sarcastic comment.

"Old p-people hit h-harder than y-you," Robin said through ragged gasps.

"You really think so kid?" Joker asked now in a serious tone, but when he turned to face Robin he was no longer smiling.

He dropped the crowbar to the ground and bent down next to Robin, they were face to face.

Robin didn't do or say anything, for she knew she shouldn't have said anything in the first place, but Joker was getting to her.

"Tell me, can an old person break a birds foot?" Joker asked. He stood up and walked towards Robins right foot.

Robin was to weak to try and move her foot, that wouldn't make a difference, she knew what was coming.

The young teen wanted so desperately to say something sarcastic to the clown, but she knew it was best to probably just stay quiet, even though it seemed impossible for her.

"They might be able to," she sarcastically replied.

"Well...lets test that theory shall we?" Joker said as he lifted his foot and stomped as hard as he could onto Robin's right ankle. Joker smiled when he heard a snapping noise.

Robin let out a scream as severe pain shot through her ankle and u he calve. Joker seemed pleased with the scream and the snap that came from Robin.

Slowly but surely, thee man pucked crowbar up off the ground.

Batman's stomach turned as he watched the scene before him. He knew he couldn't do anything, which made him more eager to find Joker and bring him to justice, well Bruce's kind of justice.

"Anything else you want too say Miss Sarcastic?" Joker said as he walked to the other side if Robin.

Robin didn't say anything, all she did was gasp for air.

"Oh come on kid, you cant be in that much pain, i thought Batsy taught you how to be a tough creep like him," Joker said with a bemused smile.

"Not everyone c-can be like Batman," Robin practically choked out.

"Aww kinda harsh, i thought you wanted to be like big Daddybats, i mean come on kid your with him like 24/7. Whats he like? Is he mean? Does he work you hard? Does he yell at you when you dont get something right?" Joker questioned," i mean if he really cared about you, why isn't he here? Why hasnt he come and saved you yet?"

"Because you... dum-dummy, he doesn't even know where we are," Robin stuttered, but it was hard to get a good comeback out when you could hardly breath, and everything around her looked cloudy. Plus the fact that her ankle was now broken.

"You just cant shut up can you kid?" Joker asked.

Everything in the room was silent and the only thing they could hear was Robin struggling to breath.

"Wow kid you must have really bad lungs, do you smoke?" Joker questioned.

Skylar did have breathing problems when it came to doing her two favorite things, dance and running.

Everything still remained silent, but quickly, the madman broke the silence.

"I have an idea, lets play a game!" Joker excitedly suggested.

"What kind of game?" David asked.

"I say a little truth or dare, what do you say kid?" Joker asked as he bent down next to Robin.

Robin stayed silent.

"Good, now how about we start with truth?" Joker said to her.

"Whatever," Robin mumbled in an irritated tone.

"Goody, now lets start with the true identity of the Batman," Joker said as he quickly whirled around and moved in closer to the camera.

"Tune in same time tomorrow and well give you a shocking performance, that is if the girl lives through it," Joker said with an evil sneer on his face. The goons hand came and cupped the camera lense. The only thing to be heard was a muffled cry from the Girl Wonder, and then the screen went black.

Batman and all the other league members in the room stared at the blank screen with shocked expressions plastered on their faces.

Black Canary quickly left the room to wipe up the tears that had fallen multiple times during the event. Immediately Green Arrow followed her and was by her side trying to comfort her.

Batman still stood in the middle of the room. He stared at the blank screen. He honestly didn't know what to say or do at this dreadful moment. The only thing he could do was hope that Robin would be ok and she would be strong.

Mount Justice

The team still stood in the middle of the room \still staring at the static on the had seen the whole event and they all wished they hadn't.

Megan instantly ran to the kitchen sink and got sick, but soon enough Conner was by her side telling her that things were going to be okay when he knew full well that they weren't. Well, at least not until they found Robin, if they ever did find Robin that is.

Zatanna, who now had her head buried into Kaldur's shoulder was sobbing and mumbling inaudible thing's through her forceful cries.

Kaldur was trying his best to comfort the young girl, but it was to no avail. He knew she was heartbroken about Robin his disappearance, and he it was doing going to get worse after what she saw on that horrid video.

Rocket, Artemis, and Kid Flash sat there beside him in silence, waiting for someone to break the awful quite and finally after a few minutes Rocket spoke.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Rocket asked, while staring at Wally, Kaldur and Artemis hoping for an answer.

"We better hope." Wally stated, as he slowly stood from the couch, trying to rub away tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks for the millionth time.

"No, we better pray." Artemis added, as she turned to look at her team mates with a worried expression. She knew that even if they did find Robin alive that there were going to be a lot of physical and mental damage, and that the Robin they knew was never really coming back


	6. Chapter 6

(Wayne Manor)

The elderly butler slowly made his way into Skylar's empty bedroom; He had been worried sick about the young girl ever since she went missing, as thing's just didn't seem the same without her around. Plus, after watching what the Joker has done to the poor girl, this only made Alfred even more apprehensive about Robin's safety.

Alfred had grown very close to Skylar these past five years; Skylar was like his own daughter, though she was Bruce's biologocal daughter, and he only hoped that she would be found soon.

Alfred slowly opened one of Robin's dresser drawers and neatly started to put her clothes away.

After he finished his task the butler slowly walked over to Skylar's bed and started to fluff her pillows for what seemed like the millionth time.

Alfred was desperately trying to get his mind off of Skylar, but it seemed nearly impossible. Things just didn't seem the same without her.

As soon as Alfred finished fluffing Skylars's pillows and tidying her room up a little, he slowly made his way to the door, but before he shut the door he slowly took one last look at the young girl's room.

"Please, stay safe Miss Wayne." Alfred whispered as he shut door, and began making his way through the long empty halls and down the stairs.

(Joker's Hideout)

"Come on kid, just answer the question and maybe I'll stop hitting you." Joker stated, as he raised the now bloody crowbar into the air and hit Robin hard on her side.

Robin screamed in pain as the rigid end of the crowbar started to sink into her side, which had now begun to bleed.

"How about now?" Joker asked, as he slowly looked down at Robin's beaten and lifeless looking body.

"Y-you'll have to k-kill me first." Robin stuttered, through ragged gasps.

"I intend to, but I want to have a little more fun with you first!" Joker said in delight, as he once again raised the crowbar and then forcefully struck Robin's side.

After a few short minutes of brutal torture Joker got bored and inpatient, so he decided to give Robin a short break while him and his two thugs went to go take care of some business.

"Okay kiddo, I'll give you a few minutes to catch your breath and to get your thoughts back in order. Meanwhile, David here will keep an eye on you while my thug and I go take care of some business. Oh, and we'll be needing your cape." Joker explained, as he bent down and removed Robin's cape from her costume and then walked towards David.

"Don't go soft on me, got it?" Joker menacingly said, and then he gave David a slight tap on the cheek.

David just gave Joker a slight nod, and then he began to stare at Robin.

After a few minutes Joker and his goon were gone, and as soon as the cost was clear David slowly walked over to one of the bags that was in the warehouse and pulled out a bottle of water and a first aid kit and approached the Skylar kneeling down by her side.

"Stay still for a minute and let me take a quick look at you kid." David said, as he gradually touched Robin's forehead and instantly realized that he was warm to the touch.

Subsequently he slowly started to grab Robin's wrist, which caused Robin to screech in agonizing pain, as her wrist started to hurt.

"Sorry kid," David quickly said, as he slowly reached for the first aid kit and ruffled through the med kit till he found what he was looking for.

David pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a small wad of paper towels; He then twisted off the cap and poured some of the rubbing alcohol over Robin's open wound.

Instantly Robin shot up, as she was struck by unwelcoming pain.

"God, wha-what the h-heck was that?" Robin asked through gritted teeth, as she started to once again gasp for air.

"Calm down kid, I don't need you getting hurt anymore then you are." David explained, as he slowly pushed Robin back down.

"Why- why are you h-helping me?" Robin queried.

"Just be quiet so I can get you cleaned up okay?" David replied, as he slowly dabbed Robin's wound with the paper towels.

Robin quickly bit into her lower lip, as blinding pain shot through her abdomen once again.

"Alright, at least that part's done." David said.

After a few minutes David had finally gotten some of Robin's wounds cleaned up, and then he slowly picked the water bottle off the ground.

David then slowly removed the lid and handed it to Robin. "Okay kid, I need you to try and drink some of this." David clarified.

"How do I-I know it's not poison?" Robin questioned.

David let out a slow sigh, and then he slowly pored a little bit of water onto his finger and tasted it.

"See, I'm not falling over dead now am I?" David said in an irritated tone, than he leaned over and pulled Robin up into a sitting position and he rested her against the poll.

"Do you think you can drink some of this?" David asked, but Robin slowly shook his head no.

"Listen kid, I need you to try and drink something or you're going to die from dehydration." David explained.

"What-what's the point? He's going to k-kill me anyway." Robin said, as she started to cough, but the worst part was that whenever she started to cough or take a deep breath it burned like hell and the pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced before.

Finally after a few minutes of negotiating Robin took a few sips of water, and David slowly laid her back onto the cold hard ground.

David then quickly picked up the med kit and any other evidence that would lead to him helping Robin, and then stood and started to walk away, but before he did he took one last glance at the young girl.

"What could Joker possibly want with this kid; she can't be any older then thirteen maybe fourteen at the most." David pondered to himself. "What do I care? I'm only doing this for the money, and as soon as I get my pay, I'm out of here." David mentally told himself, and then he slowly walked away.

(Watch Tower)

"Batman you might want to see this." Superman said, as he walked over to one of the main computer's and brought up the news channel.

"This is Vicki Vail, reporting to you live from down town Gotham." The reporter explained. "And as you can see behind me there's a large Jack in the box in the middle of Gotham square, and it's apparently blocking traffic." The reporter stated, as the camera zoomed in on the box, and on the side of the large box was a clown.

"I need to get down there." Batman said, racing out of the room and towards the Zeta Tubes.

"I'm coming with you." Diana said, as she ran up beside him.

Batman knew that he didn't have time to negotiate, so he agreed to let her come with him.

Superman watched Batman and Wonder Woman race out of the room, and then he turned back around to watch the news report because he knew exactly where his friend was headed.

(Gotham Square)

"I want everyone out of here stat." Commissioner Gordon demanded.

Instantly Batman and Wonder Woman were by the Commissioner's side.

"What's going on?" The Dark Knight questioned.

"Joker decided to leave a little present in the middle of the road." Gordon explained, sounding frustrated.

"It looks like a huge Jack in the box." WW said.

"That's because it is." The commissioner stated.

Unexpectedly the boxes side handle started to spin and the tune to "Ring around the Rosie" started playing. All of a sudden it stopped; however, nothing appeared to happen and then without a warning a dummy with a huge red smile on its face came popping out of the box, as Joker's laughter filled the air.

Everyone practically got scared half to death, except for Batman.

The Dark Knight instantly jumped onto the side of the box, and wrapped around he dummy's neck was Robin's cape with note attached to it.

"Dear Batsy, here's a little present from me to you, enjoy."

Batman grasped the bloody battered cape in his one hand and in the other the note and he grounded out one single word.

"Joker.".


	7. Chapter 7

Batman sat in the Bat-cave watching Joker's dreadful torture video over and over again.

He hadn't slept ever since Robin was abducted by the mad man, as there was no way he would even be able to close his eyes until he knew that Robin was safe and sound in her bed. In a way, Bruce blamed himself for his daughter's abduction, but that wasn't the only thing Bruce was blaming himself for.

Prior the teams mission, Bruce and Skylar had gotten into a fight. The fight was a brutual assualt of words, that quickly became out-of-hand, and now Bruce was feeling intense remorse over the whole situation. However, he and Robin had been getting into a lot of fights lately, bringing Batman to the conclusion that Robin may need a break from the hero business. Consequently, when Batman suggested a short rest from crime fighting work to Skylar, the young hero began to rant about Batman being one to talk, and then stormed out of the cave and into the hands of a madman.

Suddenly, Alfred entered the cave, bringing Batman out of his musing...

"I brought you some tea like asked." Alfred declared, as he walked over to Bruce's side.

"What time is it Alfred?" Bruce questioned.

"Its five-forty five am." Alfred said, as he looked up at the computer screen.

"How can you watch this dreadful video over and over again Master Bruce?" Alfred asked with a worried look on his face.

"I need to find some sort of trace on Joker's whereabouts." Bruce simply explained to Alfred, but his focus remained on the computer screen.

Alfred let out a long sigh; he knew that Bruce was going to keep tearing himself apart about this whole situation until he found Robin.

"Have you found anything?" Alfred queried.

"No" Bruce replied, as he replayed the video again for what seemed like the millionth time.

"What about the cape? Did you find anything on the cape?" Alfred asked, with a tint hope in his voice.

"Other than dry blood and some gravel, no." Batman stated as he continued to stare at the computer screen.

"Maybe you should try and get some sleep Master Bruce." Alfred said trying to convince the Dark Knight to get some rest, but the only answer he received was. "No, I'm fine." So, with that Alfred decided to just leave the man alone with his thoughts.

(Joker's hideout)

"We're back, and we brought company." Joker said cheerfully as he walked in from the backdoor of the warehouse.

"Alright bring them in!" Joker yelled out to his goon.

Instantly Joker's goon came into view wheeling in a large crate.

"What's in the crate boss?" David asked, a bit curious.

"My babies of course, now let them out." Joker called back to his goon in delight.

As soon as Joker's goons pulled the lock off the crate, Joker's hyenas came bursting out and ran right up to Joker's side.

"Aren't they just charming?" Joker asked as he gave the two hyenas a pat on the head.

"Yeah, charming." David whispered to himself.

"So, did are little bird behave himself while we were gone?" Joker questioned, as he walked up to David.

"Yes." David nervously replied.

"Why so nervous David? Did you do something that you weren't supposed to do?" Joker questioned the nervous man

"No sir, everything was fine." David instantly stuttered, trying not to show any sign of fear in his voice.

"Good, because you know what will happen if you're lying?" Joker threatened.

David quickly became silent after Joker's threat.

"Okay, now why don't I let my hyenas and are little bird get to know each other a little more. I mean she's going to be there little appetizer soon anyways." Joker said as he made his way over to Robin, with his hyenas following closely behind him

"Wow kid, you don't look so good." Joker teased with a giggle.

Robin just gave the clown a glare that said (you aren't too bright.) and then he turned his head away from the Mad Man, so that she was now staring at the wall.

"Aw, no comment?" Joker asked, but Robin remained silent.

"Let me guess, the silent treatment right?" Joker inquired, but to his surprise Robin didn't say anything to the clown. "Alright then, let's see what my hyenas have to say about this, get her boys." Joker the commanded, and immediately the hyenas obeyed and started to run at Robin.

Robin slowly turned her head to see the two hyenas running at her;however, instantaneously Robin reacted and swiftly pulled her feet into the air and with all of her strength she forcefully kicked one of the hyenas in the chest knocking the air out of it. Instantly the two hyenas retreated and went too cowar behind Joker.

"You hurt my baby." Joker said, with a look of shock. "Well, obviously you still have a little fight in you, so we'll just have to beat the rest out of you."

Suddenly Joker pulled his crowbar up, and tapped it in the palm of his hand and then he raised the crowbar into the air and was getting ready to strike at Robin but he stopped midway.

"This is just too predictable. We need something new, something more extreme." Joker said, and then he started to pace around the room deep within his own twisted thought's.

"What time is it David?" Joker asked.

"It's five fifty nine." David told him.

"Oh, goody!" Joker squealed with delight. "It's time for some fun, you ready kiddo?"

Robin just shot the clown a nasty glare, so Joker took that response as a yes.

"Okay, fire up the camera boy's and let's get this show on the road." Joker shouted to his Henchmen.

"Hello, all and welcome too…" Joker started to say but stopped and began to pace once again.

"I've got it welcome to Joker's mad house! Wait, that doesn't sound very appealing, does it? Wait, I've got it now welcome to the end of Robin! That'll have to do for now." Joker said with a shrug

"Now, since Robin here won't spill Batman's secret identity, we're…" Joker didn't get to finish his sentence because he was cut off by Robin.

"Because you moron, I'm not going to spill that kind of information to a loon like you!" Robin said to the clown in a 'duh' tone.

"Hmm, you know what I think kid? I think you need to cool off a little I mean you are looking rather hot. Boy's bring out the barrel of water!" Joker yelled to his goon's.

"Maybe that's not such a good idea." David stated as he took a step forward.

"You know what, I wonder how dear little Amanda's doing right now how about you?" Joker threatened once again.

David slowly backed off and walked away with Joker's other goon mumbling unspeakable word's under his breath.

"I thought so." Joker said satisfied.

After a few minutes Joker's goon's brought out a barrel full of greenish looking water, and placed it down in the center of the room.

"Now kid, just so you don't get any idea's I'm going to handcuff your legs and hand's… So you can't kick or struggle got it?" Joker explained as he bent down next to Robin, and un-cuffed her wrist from the metal poll and then he re- cuffed it around hher right wrist, and then grabbed another pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and snapped them shut on either side's of her ankles.

"Now, that should hold you." Joker said in a pleased tone, as he dragged Robin's battered body over to the bucket.

"Okay kiddo, now I am going to give you one last chance to tell me who Batman is, and if you do I'll think about not trying to drown you to death, okay?" Joker questioned, with a huge grin painted on his face.

"Go die in a pit where you belong. Because I would rather die than tell you anything." Robin snapped at the clown.

" That can be arranged, but obviously you didn't get the memo kid, so why don't I demonstrate." Joker said, as he dunked Robin's head into the barrel of water and then he started counting; finally when he got to thirty seconds he pulled Robin's head out of the water.

"How about now?" Joker inquired, but Robin didn't respond for the reason being that she could barely breathe. "Have it your way then." Joker than threw Robin's head back under the water, except this time he counted to forty instead of thirty and then ripped his head out from under the water once again.

"G-go to h…" Robin was about to finish her sentence; however, the Joker didn't want to hear what she was had to say, so he forcefully dunked her head back under the water.

"No profanity kiddo." Joker scolded, as he grabbed a hold of Robin's hair and ripped her head out of the barrel of water.

Robin gasped for air but she just couldn't seem to get enough oxygen in; she so desperately wanted the Mad Man to stop, but she knew that wasn't going to happen until she spilled Batman's identity.

"How about now?" Joker asked once more, hoping that this time the Girl Wonder would finally break but Robin didn't reply and according to Joker when your victims don't reply you just dunk there head back under the water, which is exactly what he did and then he began to count again, once to sixty two, he realized that Robin's body started to go limp so he instantly ripped his head out of the water.

As soon as Robin was above the water he began to gasp for air once again.

"I'm going to ask you one last time kid, who is the Batman?" Joker stipulated with a now serious look plastered on his face; Therefore Robin still didn't reply.

"Alright then." Joker said as he started to shove Robin's head into the water.

"No! Pl-please stop… please just st… stop please!" Robin pleaded, as a river of tear's started to stream down her pale cheeks.

"Ah, I see that we have something here, did we finally get to your breaking point?" Joker asked "But, you still haven't answered my question." Joker told her as he threw Robin's head back under the water and then after a few seconds later, he pulled her head back up.

"Last chance kid…" Joker threatened. "Because who knows next time you just might not come back up."

But Robin didn't say anything, the only thing she could do was gasp for air. So, the Joker started to push her head down.

"No, I-I'll tell you," Robin immediately responded.

"I don't believe you."Joker stated, as he started to push Robin's head farther down so that it was only inches away from the water.

"It's Bruce Wayne!" Robin sobbed, as a new round of hot tear's spilled down her cheeks.

There was a moment of silence in the room.

"Wow, I wasn't prepared for that one." Joker said in surprise.

Joker then slowly gave the bucket a hard kick to the side so that it slid away from the Girl Wonder and then he bent down in front of Robin. He then slowly pulled Robin's mask off revealing her broken dark brown eyes.

"Skylar Wayne, wow, you weren't kidding! It's a shame that you're his daughter though, daddy is going to lose his baby bird tonight." Joker explained with a laugh, and then he stood up and dropped Robin's mask to the ground.

"But I have to say congratulations kiddo! It took me almost three and a half days to break you kid, and it usually only takes me a day to break my usual victims. But you, you were a tough nut to brake! But that's what made it a blast, but it's a shame." Joker said to the broken girl, as he started to pace around him.

"Now, you're just another broken toy, and we all know what we do with broken toys we throw them in the trash where they belong. Oh, and just so you don't worry I'll make sure I kill you in the slowest most painful way ever, so than that way you go out with a bang!" Joker clarified with his famous laugh.

Robin began to shake, and for the first time ever she was afraid; She knew what the Joker was capable of and she knew that when he said that he would make sure it was the slowest and most painful death ever, he literally meant it.

"So, don't worry Bruce! Little Skylar here will be in good hand's!" Joker said, as his laugh filled the air and then the camera was turned off.

(Watch Tower)

The seven main league member's (including Dinah and Ollie.) all stood in the main conference room utterly shocked, like when they saw the first torture video. Everyone was silent once again and no one said anything.

Batman was the worst of them; the Dark Knight looked like he was on the edge of breaking down after what he just witnessed. Robin was brutally tortured and broken, and he just stood by hopelessly watching, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it. But knowing the Joker, and what he was capable of, he knew that he would leave a trace somewhere because he wanted him to find Robin, it was like a twisted game to the mad clown, and Robin was the main piece of his little game.

Superman slowly looked over to Batman, and saw that his friend was in distress, he watched as Batman quickly made his way out of the main conference room and into the hallway.

Superman was about to follow Batman, but was stopped by Dinah.

"Just give him some space." Diana said to the man of steel Superman just slumped his shoulders, and decided to listen to Diana.

(Mount Justice)

The team now stood in the middle of the living room, none of them said a word, honestly talking didn't seem to cross any of their minds at the moment. However, the one thing they did think of was what they were going to do when they got a hold of that mad clown.

"I can't believe this, he actually broke her! That son of a b…" Wally stopped halfway through his sentence when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Wally flipped around to meet Artemis's worried gaze.

"Don't worry, she'll be okay, we will find her I…" Suddenly Artemis was cut off by Wally.

"No, she's not going to be okay! That freak show has her, how is she going to be okay? Tell me?" Wally snapped at the archer, as he began to pace around the living room.

"Wally you need to calm down; freaking out isn't going to help us find Robin." Aqaulad told the young Speedster in a calm tone, even though he was just as upset as his team mates were, but he had to put his feelings aside and be strong for his team's sake.

"Your right, freaking out isn't going to solve anything, and neither is sitting around here and waiting for the League to find Robin! Because by the time they find her she'll probably be dead, so I say we go and do our own investigation, because if one of us were in Robin's position she would be doing the same thing that I'm about to do! So who's with me?" Wally asked as he looked to either one of his team mates waiting for them to respond, but no one said anything.

"I see." Wally said sadly as he started to walk away, hoping that one of his team mates would have at least have had the cordage to come with him and help him find their young friend.

"I'm with you." Artemis spoke as she took a step forward.

"Count me in." Megan agreed and then she looked over to Conner. "Conner's coming too."

"I see, I have no say so in this." Conner stated in a sarcastic tone, and then he let out a long sigh and walked over beside Megan Artemis and Wally.

"Same here." Zatanna spoke and walked forward as well, with Rocket following close behind her.

"What about you Aqaulad? Are you coming?" Wally asked.

"No one will be going anywhere; we are leaving this in the hands of the league." Aqaulad stated in a commanding voice.

"Listen we're going, with or without you." Wally snapped as he got up in Aqaulad's face, and soon enough the team was heading towards the Bio Ship, but they stopped when they heard Aqaulad's voice.

"Wally, wait you're going to need all of the help you can get, and you are also going to need a leader.." Aqaulad said, as he walked up beside his team mates.

Wally gave his friend a wide smile, than he started to walk forward once again.

"Wait," Aqaulad said instantly grabbing Wally's arm. "First we need to take care of Red Tornado."

Wally gave a slight nod and then ran off at full speed, and within seconds he ran back up beside Aqaulad.

"Alright, Red Tornado has been shut down temporally and Wolf is locked up, so he doesn't do anything he shouldn't while we're gone." Wally stated.

After a few second's the team was gone, and heading towards their destination, and soon enough the cave fell dead Canary – B-1-3…" The caves computer announced, as the female heroin made her way from the Zeta-tubes and into the living room area.

"Hello is anyone here?" Canary called, as she slowly glanced around the room looking for one of the team member's; however, the only thing she spotted was Wolf hooked onto a strong leather leash that was tied to one of the large metal support beams.

Instantly Dinah was by Wolf's side, unhooking him from his restraints and pulling off the oversized collar. While on missions, Conner would temporarily place the big dog on a leash and collar; hence preventing Wolf from getting into any mischief.

"Hey boy," Dinah said softly. "Where is everyone?"

As soon as Wolf knew he was free from the leash, he instantly headed toward Red Tornado who was still off line.

Canary curiously followed Wolf into the kitchen where Red Tornado stood utterly still. Dinah quickly sprinted up beside Red Tornado and started to examine the android; nevertheless, she didn't see anything wrong with his computerized systems. Finally Dinah realized that the kid's must have shut the android off; therefore, making it easier for the team to sneak out of the cave.

"They didn't?!" Dinah said in utter disbelief, as she hastily pulled two fingers up to her Comm-link. "Canary to Batman…"

"This is Batman, what is it?" The Dark Knight questioned, already knowing something was wrong from the blonde's anxious tone.

"The teams not at the cave… I think they might have gone to look for Robin," Canary explained.

Bruce smashed his fist in frustration "I'll get Martian Man Hunter to try and contact them, meanwhile I want you to head down to the warehouse and see if they're there… I'll send a team to meet; " Batman directed, while waiting for her reply.

"Understood," Canary said, as she headed for the Zeta tubes.

"Good, Batman out." Batman said as he went back to staring at the computer screen that was replaying one of Joker's latest video when something caught his eye.

Way in the back corner of the room, there was red letter's that looked like they were written in blood.

Without further ado, Batman quickly zoomed in and immediately got the computer to clear the image up. "Abandoned oil f" The sentence wasn't finished, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to make out the last word.

"Abandoned oil factory." Batman whispered to himself as he quickly typed in "Gotham's abandoned oil factories" and instantly the screen appeared with oil factories that had been abandoned or shut down. Batman slowly scanned through the list of factories when one of them caught his eye.

There was an abandoned factory in the middle of an old forest at the end of Gotham.

"What better place to hide, then somewhere where no one will ever think to look?" Batman thought to himself.

Quickly Batman made his way out of the room and down to the bat-mobile.

Joker was going to pay for what he did to Robin, and Bruce was going to make sure that this punishment was one that Joker would never forget.


	8. Chapter 8

(Bio Ship)

"How much longer Miss Martian?" Aqualad asked.

"Only five or ten minutes." Megan stated, as she continued to navigate the Bio-ship through the cloudless skies.

"Incoming call from the league," Conner announced.

"Don't answer it. It's probably Batman or Martian Man Hunter, and if they figure out what we're doing they'll kill us." Wally said frantically, as he shot up from his seat.

"What's the point they probably already know where we're headed?" Rocket pointed out.

"Because then they'll force us to go back to the cave," Conner simply explained.

"Wait, so does that mean that the league's in control of everything? Like, they have specific time that we should all be in bed?" Rocket said with a tint of sarcasm in her voice; however, no one found any humor in her comment.

"Alright, I've blocked the league from trying to contact us." Miss Martian informed her team mate's, while trying to switch the subject in the process.

"Good," Wally said with a sigh, as he slowly turned his head to see Robin's empty seat.

Wally took a deep breath as tear's threatened to fall for what seemed like the millionth time today, but he refused to let them fall this time; he had to be strong for his team mates and he had to be strong for Robin.

Artemis noticed the distress in the speedster's eye's and wanted to go and comfort him, but she knew it would do no good… Wally had been beating himself up over Robin's abduction ever since he was taken, even though they all had told him numerous times that it wasn't his fault; he just didn't seem to believe them.

Artemis slowly reached forward's and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder anyway. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine; just thinking." Wally declared, trying not to sound upset.

"Wally, it's okay to be upset," Artemis softly told the speedster hoping to bring him some sort of comfort.

"I'm not upset!" Wally snapped, causing Artemis to jump from his sudden outburst.

"Okay, if you say so…" Artemis replied while holding her hand's up defensively, as she slowly sat back in her seat.

She was worried for Wally; she feared that he wasn't going to be the same after all of this was over, but the thing she feared the most was what would happen if Robin didn't make it. What if they didn't save him in time and he died? What would happen to the team; more importantly what would happen to Wally?

(Joker's hideout)

The warehouse was dead silent; Joker had headed out about an hour ago to leave one more clue for Batman… Since in the Joker's mind he thought that it was only fair to give Batman one last clue that would lead him directly to Robin before he finished the kid off, but little did the mad-man know Batman already knew where they were.

David slowly walked over to Robin's trembling form, and laid a hand on her shoulder and instantly Robin's head shot up.

There was so much hurt in the young girl's eyes; she looked deathly pale and she had cuts and bruises up and down both arm's and legs… Not to mention the bruises that ran across her partially bare abdomen, including the stab wound and the large knife mark that trailed down her face; she just looked dead.

"Calm down kid," David whispered to the young boy.

"J-just get away from me." Robin stuttered, trying not to show fear but she failed miserably when another bout of warm tears swam down her pale cheeks.

David quickly turned around to see Joker's other goon standing up and slowly approaching them.

"Hey get rid of that filthy thing, it's stinking up the place." David said gesturing to the barrel that was still filed with the dirty water.

"Why me?" The goon questioned.

"Because I told you so," David affirmed in a 'don't mess with me' sort of tone.

"Fine!" The goon finally obeyed, as he grabbed a hold of the barrel and began to haul it out the backdoor mumbling unspeakable things about David in the process.

As soon as David saw that the other goon was gone, he slowly turned back around to face Robin.

"Listen, I'm going to find some way to get you out of here okay? But I need you to calm down for me." David informed the scared teen, but Robin didn't reply. "Kid pay attention, I'm sorry about what ha…" David didn't get a chance to finish before he was cut off by Robin.

"Just leave me alone!" Robin begged, as tears continued to spill down her grimy blood covered cheeks.

David gave Robin a sad look, for he knew that the kid was scared and he understood why.

He was about to argue once more with the girl to at least let him look over his wound's while he had the opportunity, but he never got the chance because Joker had come barging through the door with a happy/evil smile plastered on his painted face.

"Turn on the TV and let's watch the show!" Joker said as he ran up to a TV that they had stolen and turned it on… Instantly an image of the old warehouse where Robin had been abducted from appeared on the screen.

"May I ask why we're watching this?" David questioned.

"Quiet, you'll mess it up!" Joker snapped, as he looked back at the TV. "You might not want to miss this kid, because this is going to be a bang."

(The Bio Ship)

Miss Martian stood from her seat and announced that they had arrived at their destination, and instantaneously everyone was on their feet and ready for action.

"Alright, Zatanna and Rocket you two will go around back while Kid Flash Artemis go around front… Superboy and Miss Martian, I want you two to stay in the Bio ship incase anything goes wrong." Aqualad instructed, as everyone nodded their agreement.

"Alright, then let's move out." Wally said as he walked towards the large hole that Miss Martian had opened in the belly of the ship and grabbed a hold of the one of the dangling cables, thus sliding down to the solid grown below.

Finally, everyone was in position and ready to enter the warehouse.

"Alright, is everyone on line?" Miss Martian questioned through mind link.

Soon enough everyone replied, and then they slowly but surely entered the empty warehouse.

Wally was the first to enter the building, as he slowly looked around memories from the night of their second youngest team member's abduction hit him like a ton of bricks.

Immediately Wally started to feel panicked, as waves of nausea washed over him. He still blamed himself for what had happened that night, and he just couldn't seem to shake off that awful feeling of failure.

Wally was instantly pulled from his thoughts when he felt Artemis's soft hand placed on his shoulder once again.

"You okay?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Wally replied.

"Alright everyone, let's have a look around then." Aqualad ordered.

Gradually, and cautiously the team scanned the warehouse; however, they weren't having any luck.

Artemis slowly walked over to a closed closet (which appeared to have once been a janitors storage room) Artemis gently twisted the doors rusted mental knob and yanked the door open to see three bomb's ready to go off in twenty-five seconds.

"Guy's, we need to get out of here right now!" The Archer said urgently. "There are three bomb's ready to go off at any second!" Artemis explained, as she quickly back away from the closet and made her way over to Zatanna.

Everyone then quickly gathered and headed towards the main doors with Wally in the front.

Ten

Wally quickly ran up to the door and turned the door handles, but they wouldn't budge.

Eight

"We're locked in." Wally said frantically.

Seven

"Can we disarm the bomb?" Aqualad questioned.

"No, if we do that this whole place might blow!" Artemis explained, as she started to panic.

Five, Four, Three, Two, One…

Suddenly the warehouse blew and burst into flames.

(Abandoned warehouse)

The Bio Ship was practically knocked out of the sky from the impact of the blast, and Megan struggled to regain control of the ship.

"Miss Martian to team, please respond" Miss Martian said through mind link, praying hard that one of her teammates would answer; nevertheless, her desperate pleas where only greeted by silence. "Miss Martian to team, please respond…" Megan repeated once again.

"We're okay Miss Martian…" Aqualad stated in a slightly strained voice. "Rocket shielded us from the blast, but I think it was too much for her to handle, as she is unconscious and needs to go back to the cave for immediate medical attention."

"Alright, I'll land the Bio Ship; prepare to board her." Miss Martian declared, as she started the landing process.

"Guys!" Wally yells out; "I think I know where Robin is." Affirms the young speedster as he bends down to pick up an old oil can that has "Gotham's Finest Oil Factory" written a cross the front.

"Where?" Conner questioned.

"In the old Gotham oil factory; you know the one located in the forest at the end of Gotham City." Wally said in a slight 'duh' tone.

"How do you know that?" Aqualad questioned.

"Because Skylar made me memorize all of Gotham's residential, business, and factorial enterprise over summer break." Wally stated with slight annoyance.

"Wait, she made you memorize every Gotham map?" Asked Connor with a slight mystified expression.

"Yes, and I wanted to kill her then, but not today." Wally said with semi-smile.

"Wait, what about Rocket?" Artemis asked.

"I'll watch over her until the league shows up," Zatanna offered. "And believe me they'll show up."

"Good, then I'll run ahead." Wally said, as he quickly sped off at super speed.

Aqualad watched as the speedster ran off, wishing that he would have at least waited for them so that he would have backup.

"Are you sure you want us to leave you here alone?" Aqualad asked, as he turned back around to look at Zatanna.

"Yes, just get your butt's moving." Zatanna reassured him.

Aqualad gave her a slight nod, and then he ordered everyone to the Bio Ship. Within seconds they were off the ground and heading towards the Joker's funhouse.


	9. Chapter 9

(Joker's Hideout)

"Wow, now that was a bang." Joker stated; however, he never got to finish watching what happened because the camera got hit by the explosion.

Robin didn't say anything; she couldn't believe what she just saw. Where her friends really dead, or was this just a bad dream?

"Aw, now cheer up kiddo." Joker told him as he bent down beside Robin and pulled out one of his knives. "Or I'll just have to cheer you up myself, because I wouldn't want you to die with a frown."

"Just get it over with; kill me already. What's the use in keeping me alive? There's nothing to go back too, you made sure of that you demonic freak." Robin yelled at the Joker.

Joker sat there for a moment and stared at the Girl Wonder, then he burst out laughing; however, his laughter soon turned into murderous rage.

"Wow kid, I didn't know you felt that way. I mean after all we've been through together and you say that to me?" Joker questioned, as he stared Robin straight in the eye.

"You're a lunatic! You killed my friends you're a…" Robin was instantly slapped a cross the face before she was able to get another word out.

"Now, now." Joker said as he ripped Robin up by the head of her hair and held the knife up to her throat. "I wouldn't try my patient's." Joker stated as he started to push the knife into Robin's throat, causing a small trail of blood to slide down his neck.

"Go ahead; you'll be making it a quick death." Robin declared.

"Why don't you two give us a few minutes?" Joker said as he looked at his goons.

His goons gave him a quick nod, and then exited the backdoor.

"Your right kid," Joker agrees as he finally dropped Robin to the ground and reached into his back pocket for a gun instead of his preferred knife . "We'll make it a little more painful."

Joker slowly aims the gun at the floor next to Robin's left ear, he pulled the trigger.

Robin couldn't hold back the scream that escaped her lip's from pure terror and from the unbearable pain that shot through her ear from the sound being so close .

"Now, that's what I want to hear." Joker practically yelled over Robin's screaming.

Joker then started to pace around Robin, as he watched the girl bite hard into her lower lip trying to ease the pounding pain in her head. Robin desperately tried to say something, but she couldn't get the words out.

"Go to hell." Robin finally screamed through deep ragged breaths.

"I would kid, but people say that I'm already going to go there." Joker teasingly said.

"R-really, did your m-mother ever tell you that you were from hell?" Robin snapped.

"Oh, really? You know what I think kid? I think that you just can't learn your lesson." Joker stated with a malevolent grin.

Joker then pointed the gun at the ground once again Robin's other ear and pulled the trigger.

"You look tense kid." Joker simply pointed out.

Robin screamed in terror pain once again. .

Skylar started to panic as everything around her started to go black, but she fought against the darkness. For she started to face the fact that she was going to die, and that there was nothing that was going to change that.

Joker slowly walked around Robin and watched as the girl struggled to fight death.

"Have you learned your lesson yet?" Joker asked.

"D-die." Was the only word that Robin could get out.

"Sorry, no can do… because if I die then who will be around to make Batman's life miserable?" Joker inquired.

"Y-you mean the m-man that you are too chickened to face?" Robin questioned through gritted teeth.

"I'm not afraid of anyone." Joker snapped as he gave Robin a heard kick to the side.

Robin shrieked in pain as her side started to burn.

Joker took a step backwards; he knew that there wasn't any more fight left in the girl, and that his fun and games had finally come to an end; thus, he let out a short sigh as he aimed the gun at Robin's head.

"Well kid it was fun while it lasted, and don't worry I'll tell daddy that you went out with a bang." Joker said with a humorous giggle.

Robin slowly closed her eyes as she started to subside to the darkness that was slowly pulling her under.

She was ready to die, well that's at least what she kept telling herself… but inside she was terrified. She didn't want to die, not like this, not now and not ever. She was afraid of where she was going, was she going to go to Heaven or Hell? She wasn't the best person in the world and yet she wasn't the worst.

Was she going to see her friends? Was she going to be reunited with her mom? All of the questions started to pop into her head, but she just tried to push them aside, for she knew in her heart where she was going, and she knew that soon she would be with her friends and family in heaven. This revelation brought Skylar great peace, as she allowed herself to drift off into unconscious.

Joker was about to pull the trigger, when suddenly the door flew open and Wally burst in. Nevertheless, Wally underestimated the Joker, as the insane clown quickly flew around and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out in the room, as Wally fell to the ground with a pained shriek, cradling his now wounded hip.

"Lucky shot." The Joker shouted in delight.

Skylar's eyes instantly flew open at the sound of Wally's scream; and the Girl Wonder came into eye contact with her best friend.

Even through his pain, Wally could see excitement and fear in Skylar's eyes, but what caught his attention was the large amount of blood that covered Robin's thin frame.

"Now, now what do we have here? I thought I killed you back in that explosion… Don't you hero's ever just stay dead?" Joker asked as he looked down at the speedster.

"Well, you failed with that plan you demonic freak." Wally snapped though gritted teeth.

"I might have failed the first time, but there's always a second chance." Joker stated with a humorous laugh as he aimed the gun at Wally temple and put his hand on the trigger. "Don't worry about your friend Sky, he'll be just fine."

Joker started to pull the trigger, but the gun was instantly knocked out of his hand by a bat-a-rang.

Joker hastily looked in the direction the object flew from; however, from his vantage point he could only see darkness.

"Where are you?" Joker yelled into the air.

"Here." Came the dark voice.

Joker quickly flipped around and was meant with a fist to the face, sending him flying back into a wall.

"Wow, what a hit…" Joker declared as he stood up from off the ground. "Ah Batman, your way too early I was supposed to kill the bird before you got here not after."

Batman flew forward and hit the joker again in the face, causing him to fly backwards again.

"Did you actually think that you were going to get away with this? Did you think that I wouldn't come looking for you?" Batman questioned in anger.

"No, I just wanted to see how long it would take you to find her before she had enough. But, I must say Bat's that girl sure can scream when she's in enough pain…" Joker explained. "And man was it fun to watch her beg for me to stop. However, the best part of the whole show was when she cried. Heck, she cried for hours after she spilled your secret… But where were you Bruce? Why did you not come and save your precious babygirl? Oh, let me guess because you were to scared to do it?" The Joker said in a fit of laughter.

At this Batman lost control, as he began to pummel the Joker with continual blows.

Wally watched as Batman's anger got the best of him, he didn't know what to do, should he let Batman continue on with his rage until he went overboard and killed the mad man? Or should he try to stop the enraged caped crusader? Wally chose plan B, as he tried to pull himself into a sitting position, but it was nearly impossible with a bullet inlayed through his hip bone. Through his haze of pain, Wally slowly looked over to where Robin was laying, eyeing Joker's disposed gun. A plan quickly entered Wally's head and he pushed himself to stand, but this was to no avail… as his injured hip could not withstand his body weight.

During this time Batman had beaten the Joker into what appeared to be a submissive pile of flesh; however, looks can be deceiving at times, as the Joker still verbally jousted with the Dark Knight.

"W… wow, you sure can… can throw a better punch then your kid can." Joker said hoping to tick Batman off, and it worked.

Batman gritted his teeth in anger, as he was prepared to give Joker his worst, but suddenly Joker flipped off of the ground with a sharp object in his hand.

Batman felt a piercing pain in his lower back. He was rather dumb founded for a moment and he didn't even try to fight back.

Joker ripped the knife from Batman's back and stabbed him again; He repeated the process three times over, until Batman was crouched on the ground gritting his teeth in pain.

"Now Bat's, you of all people should know that I always have a trick up my sleeve." Joker pointed out as he spit a mouthful of blood on the ground. "You've been a very naughty bat, so I guess we'll just have to teach you a lesson."

Joker gave a wide grin and then he kicked Batman hard in the side.

"You would have been better off staying where you were at because now you both will die, but I'll make sure that I kill you first and make her watch." Joker said with a malicious laugh, as he pulled the knife up and bent down beside Batman. "But first we'll give you a smile." Joker pulled the knife closer to Batman's face when unexpectedly he heard a loud bang and then he felt a sharp burning pain in his shoulder; thus, causing him to drop the knife to the ground.

Joker quickly flipped around to see that Robin had dragged her beaten and broken body over to the gun that she was holding tightly in his hand.

"Whoa kid let's not do anything that you're going to regret." Joker warned.

"The only thing that I am going to regret is letting you kill another innocent victim." Skylar declared as she held the gun tighter in her rapidly shaking hand.

Robin could barely hold the gun straight because of the way her hands were shaking, plus the fact that her vision was blurry; however, she couldn't feel the pain anymore, as the only thing she could feel was the anger that was raging inside of her.

"Listen kiddo you don't want to do this… I mean think about the good things that we've done these past four and a half days." Joker stated as he started to feel nervous.

"Shut up you lunatic, these past four and a half day's have been hell." Robin snapped in a warning tone.

"Calm down kid, how about we talk about this?" Joker asked as he took a step forwards.

"Don't take another step forward's or I swear to God I'll blow your brains out." Robin yelled.

"Then why don't you shoot me little girl… Come on, if you really wanted my blood on your hands then you would have shot and killed me by now." Joker teased.

Robin didn't reply he just watched the Joker's every move.

"Aw, is Skylar afraid to take a risk?" Joker questioned.

Robin slowly put her finger on the trigger, but right when she was about to fire she heard Wally shout something. Instantly Wally was at Robin's side trying desperately to wrestle the weapon from his friends hands.

"Skylar, drop the gun, it's not worth it." Wally said as he tried to pry the gun from Robin's finger tips.

Joker looked at the hero's wrestling over the gun and saw this as a perfect opportunity to take a run for it, which is exactly what he did.

"Please Skylar let the gun go." Wally pleaded.

Skylar gave Wally a look for a moment, not sure of what to do… What was she doing? Was she really going to take the mad man's life? She then slowly let the gun fall from her finger tips as tears ran down her cheeks, she was scared to death and she didn't know what to do.

Wally quickly pulled Robin into his arms, trying desperately to soothe some part of the young girl's damaged emotional psyche.

Throughout this reunion, Batman slowly began to pull himself off of the ground and looked over at Wally who was holding the young girl in his arms. Bruce started to take a few steps forward when he saw the backdoor hanging wide open. He gave a questioning look to Wally and Robin, fighting between his need to catch the Joker and his allegiance to Robin. Wally, sensing Batman's apprehension shouted "Go catch that satanic bastard before he gets away, I'll stay here with Robin."

With that said Batman was out the door and vanished into the darkness.

Wally then looked back down at Robin, as he said in a gentle tone. "I promise that I'll never leave you alone ever again." When suddenly he saw the door burst open and the team came running in.

"Im just so scared," Skylar said through painful sobs.

"Where's Joker?" Conner questioned ready to rip the clown's head off.

"Batman's taking care of him." Wally said as he glanced back down at Robin, who had unburied her face from Wally's shoulder, and was beginning to mumble something.

"What?" Wally asked as he bent down a little lower to hear what the young girl was trying to say.

"I… I thought you were dead. I… I'm so sorry, this is my fault." Robin sobbed.

"Skylar, I don't… We don't blame you; you were just trying to catch the Joker." Wally told the upset boy.

"No, I wasn't. I was trying to prove Batman wrong. I was trying to prove that I didn't need him to babysit me anymore and… and that I could handle myself." Robin explained.

"Sky, this isn't your fault." Wally simply said.

"You… you could have been killed because of me." Robin stated as her eyelids started to close, as she started to succumb to the darkness that was trying to pull her under.

"Skylar, Skylar you stay awake you hear me." Wally demanded hoping that the Skylar would comply.

Instantaneously Aqualad was bent down beside the two young teens.

"She need's immediate medical attention." Aqualad informed him, as he prepared to pull the girl from Wally's grasp.

"The Bio Ship is ready for us to be boarded." Miss Martian explained.

"No need for that." Came a sudden voice from the front door.

Instantly the team flipped around to see Superman, Canary, Flash, and Wonder Woman.

Canary and Wonder Woman quickly ran up beside Aqualad who was now holding Robin in his arm's 'Bridal style'.

"Alright get her onto the ship and prepare to take off…" Canary directed Aqualad and the others. "Where are Joker and his goon's?"

"Batman went after Joker and we caught one of the goon's, he's in custody on the Bio Ship." Superboy notified her as he helped Wally off of the ground.

"I'll go look for him." Wonder Woman declared as she ran out the backdoor and flew off.

(Middle of the forest)

Joker ran as fast as he could go. For he knew that Batman was probably hot on his trail.

Joker slowly came to a stop behind a tree, trying to catch his breath when suddenly he heard footstep's coming fast from behind him, he quickly flipped around and banged right into Batman.

"You might be able to run Joker, but there is no where you can hide where I won't find you." Batman said in a threatening tone.

"Now let's not get personal here alright?" Joker stated as he started to back up.

Batman quickly grabbed a hold of Joker and slammed him up against the tree as hard as he could.

"Believe me, it's personal." Batman declared.

The last thing to be heard in the peaceful forest was an ear piercing scream from Joker


	10. Chapter 10

WW ran as fast as she could through the forest. She had to find Batman and Joker before Batman's temper got the best of him. She finally found the two near a patch of trees. She approached them and saw Joker lying on the ground. She gasped. She looked at Batman and said,"Is he dead?"

"No he isn't dead. I knocked him out with a painful pressure point," Batman said looking a little cooled off.

"What about him knowing your identity's?" WW asked him.

"I will have to have J'onn erase his memory or have Zatarra do some sort of memory spell," Batman said thinking about the subject.

"And Skylar?" She asked him.

"She is going to be so emotionally and physically damaged, she probably hates me for not coming at the last second," Batman said feeling guilty.

"Bruce, Skylar would never hate you, and you know that, she is probably still in shock and she is just so scared," WW told him trying to lift the guilt.

"I need to see her," Batman said sprinting back towards the warehouse.

Four days later

Cave

Skylar had awoken from another nightmare. No matter how hard she prayed they weren't going to be going away for a while. She was unsure of where she was. The room was filled with technology and was dimly lit. She could hear the occasional beep of a heart monitor as it read her heart beat. She tried to move but was automatically struck with sharp pains everywhere in her body. She looked down at the arms and expected to see numerous cuts and bruises. But to her surprise they were all gone. She painfully attempted to move her head to look at her right ankle. There was a bright purple cast. Same with her right wrist. She jumped when she heard a door open and footsteps approaching her. It was Connor.

"Hey long time no see," Skylar said putting on a weak smile.

"You don't have to pretend Skylar," Connor said giving her a serious look.

"Hey chill out tough guy," Robin said making Connor smile a bit.

"How is everyone?" She asked ready to hear how everyone had been taking it.

"Who do you want to hear about?" He asked prepared to tell the teen anything she wanted to know.

"Anyone," she replied with open ears.

"Your dad has been waiting around to see you the past four days, Wally has been in the infirmary for his hip, but he's ok now, just in a little pain, the girls, Megan cant stop crying until she knows your ok, Artemis not so much, Kaldur has been beating himself up about, anyway, long story short, nobody is taking this well," Connor explained.

"I feel horrible, and what happened to all my cuts and bruises?" Skylar asked curiously.

"Zatarra, he used some sort of spell to heal all the cuts and bruises you had," he explained.

"Can I see anybody right now?" She asked hoping for a yes.

"No, you need to be resting right now, it was just my turn to check on you," Connor said before leaving the room.

Skylar soon fell asleep once again.

One hour later

Skylar awoke covered in cold sweat. This nightmare featured her friends being to late and Joker succeeding in killing her. She felt tears running down her finally normal cheeks.

"Skylar?" She heard a familiar voice say.

A no longer costumed man walked out of the darkness. A man that Skylar was overjoyed to see.

"Daddy?" She said.

"Your thirteen, your getting to old to call me daddy," he said sarcastically.

"I will never be to old to call you daddy," she said as Bruce sat down on the bed and gently pulled his daughter into his arms. Skylar buried her head into his shoulder. Bruce kissed her head and looked at his daughter.

"I'm sorry Skylar," he told her.

"Dad, please don't, I don't want to reminess on the dreadful things I went through, I'm just really scared and don't know if I will ever be the Skylar you used to know," Skylar said with a fresh round of tears falling down her face.

"Sky, please don't cry, you went through so much, you shouldn't be crying," Bruce told her trying to calm down the distressed teen.

She had cried herself to sleep in Bruce's arms. He layed her back down and left the room.

"You were in there for a while," Clark said to Bruce.

"She's just scared and stressed out, I can't stand to see my little girl like this, it is killing me to see her go through the aftershock of what happened to her," Bruce told him.

"With the right stuff, we will help her Bruce, we all will," Clark told him patting him on the back


	11. Chapter 11

Three weeks later

Skylar was finally able to eat and eventually walk on crutches. She was still not in her usual happy moods. She spent most of her time in the cave living room listening to music through her phone. No matter how hard the team tried they simply couldn't help the traumatized teen. Canary was able to help Skylar talk out a lot of the emotional stuff Skylar was feeling while in the clutches of the madman. Anytime Canary tried to bring up the torture that she had encountered, Skylar burst into tears. That was something she just couldn't talk about. It brought back to many memories. Memories she wishes she could just forget.

One day while the team was out on a mission, except for Wally because of his hip, he sat with Skylar on the couch as he played Left for Dead 2 (freaking amazing game) on the X-Box and she listened to music. He was more focused on why Skylar spent so much time with music than he was paying attention to the game, which was rare.

He looked at her. She was scrolling through the music library on her phone trying to find a new song. He pulled out her left earbud and she gave him a "why did you just mess with my music?" sort of look.

"I'm sorry I messed with it, but I need to ask you something," he said trying to cover up.

"What is your question my love?" Skylar said joking around with Wally. (They joke around and call each other babe and stuff)

"Why have you been so hooked on music and not talking to me, Sky, I am your best friend, you can talk to me about anything, what does the music do?" Wally asked her in all seriousness.

"Wally, do I suspect jealousy? If you really want to know I will tell you," Skylar began, she took a big breath then continued," the music helps me forget, it takes me to a place where I am calm and where everything in the world just disappear, its my happy place especially after what I went through."

Her eyes began to tear up and then they fell.

"I'm so sorry, I seriously could have gotten you killed three weeks ago, it would have been my fault, its my fault you all came after me, its my fault I put you all through this, I almost wish Joker just would have killed me and put me out of this misery of having to deal with this hell I'm going through, I just can't stand it anymore," Skylar full on sobbed.

Wally put down the game controller not caring if he was getting eaten by zombies and pulled Skylar into his arms. He held on as tight as he could not wanting to let her go ever. She leaned into his touch and layed her head against his chest.

"None of this is your fault, I should have kept a better eye on you, we came after you because we care about your safety, and either way we all would still be going through this even if this didn't happen. I am really happy Joker didn't kill you and save you you from pure hell right now," Wally said trying to comfort her.

"Yeah, why?" She asked.

"Because then you wouldn't be here with me," Wally said than hesitated. He looked into Skylar's eyes. "I love you Skylar Wayne," he said before he leaned in close to her face.

"I love you to Wally West," Skylar also said leaning in closer to his. There lips met.(not make out you perves out there!)Wally was really kissing the Dark Knight's daughter, and Skylar was really kissing the hyperactive human garbage disposal.

"What is going on here?" They heard a familiar voice say.

They pulled out of the kiss and looked over. There stood Skylar's father, and he did not look happy. Skylar's eyes widened and Wally began to get extremely nervous.

"Um, dad what are you doing here?" Skylar asked trying to act as natural as possible.

"Team just got back from a mission, nice try Skylar, room, now," Batman sternly ordered his daughter. (Since Skylar is still in the process of healing she is staying at the cave with Connor, Megan, and Zatanna)

"Yes sir," she obeyed as she quickly crutched off to her room.

Batman then turned to Wally

"Oh would you look at the time, I have to get go in, my parents are probably wondering where I am, heh heh," Wally said as he quickly tried to slip away from Batman.

"Not so fast West," Batman said with anger in his voice.

"You break my daughter's heart, I will make training so hard for you, you are going to need a little more than protein bars to keep you from running out of energy," Batman said before turning and walking out of the room.

Wally stood paralyzed there for a second. Was that it? Was Batman letting his daughter whom he was insanely overprotective of date Wally? Does he trust Wally with his little girls heart? The questions flooded his head.

The team walked into the living room somewhat scraped and very worn out. Artemis looked at Wally and said,"Wally, are you OK?"

"I kissed Skylar," Wally faintly mumbled.

"What?" Kaldur asked him.

"I kissed Skylar," Wally said proud enough for everyone to hear.

"Wally kissed a girl? And the Girl Wonder to," Zatanna asked


	12. Chapter 12

ne week later

Skylar sat I'm a comfy chair in closed room. Black Canary sat across from her. Canary began digging through a plastic bag looking for something. Skylar wondered what it could be. She pulled out a small journal and a pen that wrote in purple ink.

"Skylar, I know that some things are just hard to talk about, so here is this journal and I want you to write down anything that comes to mind that I haven't already seen or any dreams you have had. If you have ever thought about what happened, write it down. It's your decision whether you want me to see it or not. I believe this will help you," she explained to the teen.

"I will," Skylar said.

Canary said nothing and got up an left the room. Skylar closely followed. She walked into the living room and sat down, she began to write down everything she had ever thought about since it had happened, every dream, everything. Wally came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her from behind.

"Watcha soon babe?" He asked.

"Helping myself," she said turning her head to look at his rested on her shoulder.

That night

*dream*

I was laying on the floor. Body beaten and battered. I was on my last leg. I heard the miniacle laugh of the deranged bastard that did this to me. My arms burned and felt like someone was pushing needles into my arms. I heard joker approaching me. He bent down next to me and pulled out a gun. He touched my temple and put his hand on the trigger. Before he pulled it my friends came bursting through the door. In less then a second, Joker had turned around and shot and killed every one of them. There was only one left to immolate now, me. Joker pointed the gun to my temple and pulled the trigger. I went out with a bang, just like he wanted.

*end of dream*

Wally's POV

Skylar was thrashing violently in her sleep. She was crying and whimpering at the same time. Her arms were bleeding. I couldn't stand to watch it anymore. I shook Skylar and called her name. She eventually woke up and was in awe. She looked at her arms. She had clawed her arms with her nails and broke the skin. She full on cried now.

"I have never done this before, I have never hurt myself through a dream, please just make it stop, make my living hell of a life stop," she cried.

I carried her into her bathroom so that she wouldn't get blood on anything. I set her on the toilet and cleaned up her arms. She had five individual centimeter long cuts all down each arm. I dried her tears and told her it would be OK. She knew sure as hell it wouldn't be but I still gave it a chance. I carried her back to her bed as she started to doze in my arms as we sat on the bathroom floor when I was calming her down. I covered her up with a blanket and began to leave the room.

"No Wally, please," he heard her say as her voice cracked. Tears were threatening to spill again.

"Do you want me to lay with you?" I asked her.

"No, I don't want to be in here," she said.

I picked her up bridal style and carried her to my room. I layed her down on my bed. I went over to my closet and pulled an Under Armour off of the door knob. This was my favorite sweatshirt. I allowed no one to touch it, accept Sky. I gave it to her and she pulled it on. We sat and talked for hours on end about her time with Joker. It was horrible but terribly interesting to hear what had gone on. With her tangled n my arms we had both fallen asleep. I awoke the next morning with Sky on the other side of my sleeping away. I thought about waking her but I thought she deserved some extra hours of sleep


	13. Chapter 13

A month later

I crutched into the Zeta tube. I was finally able to go home after it had all happened. I was so excited to see Alfred and Tim. My dad said there was some sort of surprise for me. I had my cast taken off of my wrist, but had to wear a brace, and i got my cast taken off of my ankle, but I have to wear a boot for a while. I was able to walk on it somewhat but I could only take a few steps. I entered the zeta tube with my dad. We were transported to the batcave. I entered the place that seemed so vague to me. I looked up at the stair case that lead to the old grandfather clock. My dad was way ahead of me. He chuckled and pushed a button. The stairs turned into a flat platform.

"How did you do that?" I asked him.

"Its been like that," he said.

"Ppsshh, I knew that," I said joking with him like old times.

I crutched up the platform and through the opening in the grandfather clock. I was attacked by a shrieking 6 year old screaming,"Sky Sky!".(what I let him call me)

I was happy to see him but the look on his face broke my heart when he saw my crutches and boot on my foot. He backed away a little bit.

"No, your fine, come here," I told him with a fake smile on my face. He approached me and attempted to hug my torso. I missed my "little brother" so much.

"Now, Master Timothy, please, give Miss Wayne some space," I heard Alfred say as he approached me and Tim. I smiled.

"Miss Wayne, very glad to have you back," he said.

"Great to be back," I replied.

"Come on out!" I heard my dad shout to nothing. I gave him a weird look. He smiled at me then looked behind me. I turned back around and saw my "older brother" Dick Grayson. My eyes widened.

"Dick!" I said as I dropped my crutches and attempted to fast walk over to Dick to hug him. I almost fell flat on my face but he managed to catch me.

"Hey, you kinda can't walk in case you forgot," he said smiling at me.

"Haha, oh yeah," I said looking stupid,"guess I'm just excited to see you after a while."

"Yeah, your dad told me what happened, I have been worried sick about you Skylar," Dick told me.

"I figured, but let's just not talk about what happened, I am just happy to finally be home," I said trying to lift the tension.

"Good idea," my dad said agreeing with me.

Dick came up to my room with me. He sat with me as I tried to adjust my boot. "So, I know you just got back but I am going to be in Gotham until Friday and I wanted to know if you wanted to stay the weekend with me in Blüdhaven in my apartment? We can order Belacinos pizza and watch horror movies like old times," he asked me.

I literally laughed out loud. Gosh I missed when he used to live here with me, my dad, and Alfred. He would keep me up at night watching one stupid scary movie after another.

"Sounds like a plan, and are you guys trying to like stuff me and eat me? Wally was seriously forcing me to eat, I have mostly lived off of coffee the last couple of months," I told him laughing.

"Hays speaking of you and Wally, what exactly happened? Your dad was talking to himself about you and Wally," Dick asked curiously.

"Well, long story short, we kissed, and then started dating. Dad didn't really freak out that much, he actually trusts me with Wally, if only my dad trusted Wally. If he only knew how much Wally loves and cares about me," I told Dick.

"We all guessed you two would eventually end up dating, you guys have been best friends since you were two," Dick started," Your dad just needs time to warm up to Wally, trust me, he will trust him in time."

"Yeah, I guess your right," I said. I looked at my phone, it was 9:30. I was tired. But I got changed and just talked with Dick for hours on end until I fell asleep. I woke up at two am being shaken awake by my dad. I shot straight up and was aided by my dad. He kept asking me if I was OK everything was so unclear. I wasn't sure what was going on. The room was spinning and I saw Dick walk in. His eyes widened when he saw me. I was so confused. "Dad what is going on?" I attempted to ask him but he just stared at me as if a was crazy and he couldn't here me. I was getting scared. Tears rolled down my cheeks because I had no idea what was going on. Nobody was answering me. My cheeks felt an instant burning sensation when my tears fell. I touched my face and looked at my fingers. Blood. I ran to my bathroom, well that is, forgot my ankle was kinda broken and fell on my face. Dick scooped me up and took me into the bathroom. He looked at my face and cleaned the blood off. There, just like my arms, were five one centimeter long cuts along both of my cheeks.

"I did it again," i said as I began to panic. No. No I couldn't panic, that would lead to hyperventilation, then a panic attack, then I would pass out from oxygen deprivation. I had to calm down..

"What do you mean again, Skylar," my dad asked me as he walked into the bathroom.

"A month ago I clawed my arms and made them bleed from a nightmare, but I don't remember having a nightmare tonight," I told him. I began to hyperventilate. I had to stop.

"Skylar calm down, your going to give yourself a panic attack," Dick said as he knew I was prone to them.

I slowed my breathing and began to calm myself. I needed an espresso and an IB Proven. My head was pounding. I got my pill but it was two am, no way my dad was going to give me espresso. I tossed and turned the whole rest of the night. I only slept for like, an hour. I woke up at 9:30 and was ready for that espresso. I crutched down the stairs. I stood outside the kitchen and could here my dad, Dick , and Alfred talking. I listened.

"She had blood running down her cheeks, she looked like she had been crying blood. I was relieved when they were only cuts but," Dick said.

"Master Bruce, how could she have done this without even knowing after she was awoken?" Alfred asked my dad.

"I don't know, she had to have felt something when she was sleeping," my dad replied to him

I had had enough I walked in and grabbed the espresso k-cup for the Keurig coffee maker.

"Morning Sky," my dad told me.

"Morning dad," I replied trying to reach my Batman thermos like cup. I put it under the dispenser and waited for my coffee to be ready.

"How are your cheeks feeling?" Dick asked me.

"I don't know, I can't even feel the cuts, are they really noticeable?" I asked running my fingers along my cheeks.

"Right now they are, but once we get some peroxide on them to make sure they don't get infected they will be less noticeable Miss Wayne," Alfred told me.

That made me feel a bit better but not much,"Thanks Alfred."

Tim walked in and I looked at him. He looked at me and was horrified. He ran up to me and I bent down to his level trying to focus all my weight onto my left foot.

"Skywar, what happened to your face?" He asked me.

"I had a bad dream and it was really scary I guess, I cut my face with my nails while I was asleep," I explained to him. Tears began to fall from his eyes. He held onto my neck and cried into my shoulder.

"Hey hey calm down, whats wrong?" I asked him.

"I don't want you to keep getting hurt," he told me.

"Tim, I'm fine, and I have been," I told him partially lying to get him to stop crying.

"No you weren't, I saw you awl bwoody and you were on the gwound," he told me.

I looked at my dad with the most serious look. "How does he know I was 'bloody and on the ground'?" I asked him.

"He snuck down into the cave while I was rewatching the video and he saw about ten minutes of brutal torture," he told me.

I remained silent. I can't believe Tim saw that. This was horrible. He was probably scarred. I felt horrible.

"Skywar, can you sit with me in the living room pwease?" He asked me as he dried his tears.

"Yeah, let me get my coffee and I will be in there in a minute, k?" I told him.

"K," he said running into the living room.

"You will do anything for that kid wouldn't you," Dick asked me.

"I would take a bullet for him," I said as I grabbed my cup and headed to the living room to watch some pointlessly amusing cartoon. My first day back was pretty rough


	14. Chapter 14

3 months later. "This is Gotham's Vicki Vale bringing you breaking news from Arkham Insane Asylum. Guards reported that the infamous Joker has escaped from the mental instution last night. Guards say it is still unclear on how the clown had managed to breach security, but we asked the asylum's head of security for a statement. He replied with no comment. We advise you all to stay off the streets at night and lock your doors," came the mews channel fr the front room where Skylar was stretching. She stopped when she had heard this news. She had recovered from many of her injuries but she was still deeply scarred. She still had many mental breakdowns when she even heard Joker's name or thought about him. But hearing this was enough to put her in an absolutely terrified state. "No, no, no this cant be happening," she said aloud. "Please don't tell me this is happening, please please. Please," she begged nothing as tears began to fall from her eyes. "No, please, tell me this is a horrible nightmare, please, don't let this be real, please," she begged nothing again as she began to cry harder. Bruce walked into the room and found his daughter on the ground crying. He looked at the TV and figured out what the story was about. He understood what was wrong with her. "Please, please, please, pet this be some sort of sick joke, I don't want this to be real," Skylar cried again. Bruce picked up his daughter and set her on the couch. He sat next to her and pulled her into his arms like he did when she had first been rescued. "Sky, calm down okay?" He told her. "Daddy, he is going to come and finish the job, he is going to kill me, he is going to make sure that I am dead. I don't know what to do. He is going to come here and kill me. I'm going to be dead," Skylar cried harder. "Skylar, I promise that he will not hurt you ever again. He will not come near you as long as I am here, I promise you that I will keep you safe and will do anything to make sure he won't lay a single hand on you," Bruce said as he tried to get her to stop crying. "He's going to find a way past you, daddy, he is going to come and hurt me again, he is going to kill me, he is going to make sure my life is a living hell, Im terrified of what is going to happen," Skylar told him. Bruce sat for an hour with her trying to calm her down. She still cried. He didn't want to do this but it was for desperate measures. He went I to the kitchen and grabbed a pill from one of the many bottles. One that he had only had to get out once before to calm her when she had breathed in an unhealthy amount of fear gas from Scarecrow and was having violent fear induced dreams. He took the pill and a bottle of water to her. "Skylar if you want to feel better again, you need to take this," he said as he approached her. Skylar eventually took the pill and less than a minute later she was out cold. Bruce carried her to he room and laid her down. Hours later Batman had just gotten home from from an unusually long patrol. He had found Joker and had taken him back to Arkham. He was still filled with fury even though everything had happened only a couple of months ago. Alfred met him immediately. "Sir, Miss Wayne has been pacing in her room for hours. I have tried to get her to stop but she will not listen to me," Alfred said. "Oh no, it's gotten worse," Bruce said as he ran upstairs. He walked into Skylar's room. There she was pacing back and forth in her room. She looked at him and then instantly ran to her father. "I thought you left me, I have been so worried about you, please don't ever leave me again," she told him crying into his shoulder. "Skylar, Joker is back in Arkham," he told her. That was the first thing he wanted her to hear. "Thank you," she told him grateful that her father cared. "Skylar, I would do anything for you, no matter what you will always be safe when you are with me, or Dick, or anybody else," he reassured her. A/N-What did you guys think? Should I add more? Idk. I have been busy with dance and everything. Life has been really stress full lately. Anyways, review and tell me what you think! -danceluvr12613 


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